Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides

BEED, India: On a small farm in India’s Maharashtra state, Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed himself.

Farmer suicides have a long history in India, where many are one crop failure away from disaster, but extreme weather caused by climate change is adding fresh pressure.Dwindling yields due to water shortages, floods, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, coupled with crippling debt, have taken a heavy toll on a sector that employs 45 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.

Mirabhai’s husband Amol was left with debts to loan sharks worth hundreds of times their farm’s annual income, after the three-acre (one-hectare) soybean, millet and cotton plot withered in scorching heat.

He swallowed poison last year.“When he was in the hospital, I prayed for him,” said 30-year-old Mirabai, her voice breaking.Amol died a week later, leaving behind Mirabai and three children. Her last conversation with him was about debt.

Their personal tragedy is replicated daily across Marathwada, a region in Maharashtra of 18 million, once known for fertile farmland. Last year, extreme weather events across India affected 3.2 million hectares of cropland -- an area bigger than Belgium -- according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment research group.

Over 60 percent of that was in Maharashtra.“Summers are extreme, and even if we do what is necessary, the yield is not enough,” said Amol’s brother and fellow farmer Balaji Khindkar.